Matthias Rath, the alternative health eurosceptics and the MEP
Posted by gimpy on November 9, 2008
Matthias Rath, the deeply odious and murderous quack nutritionist, is collaborating with representatives of the alternative health industry to campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and other EU legal decisions. This alliance incorporates minor political parties in Germany and the Netherlands – AGFG and Partij voor Mens en Spirit respectively, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), the National Health Federation (NHF), La Leva di Archimede and the Zeus Information Service, all organised and brought together by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation. I do not have the Dutch or German necessary to comment on the claims of the political parties but the other organisations are fundamentally dishonest, fraudulent and dangerous.
The Alliance for Natural Health
The ANH are supporters of Matthias Rath and chose to defend his failed attempt to silence Ben Goldacre in Britain’s libel courts despite the fact that Rath was unable to demonstrate that his case had any merit. Matthias Rath is not the only discredited individual with dangerous ideas and practices that the ANH choose to support, they have been vocal in their support for Andrew Wakefield, the utterly discredited MMR/Autism hypothesis and the libellous and deranged writings of the deeply unpleasant Martin Walker. In fact the ANH is a repository of many documents attacking the character and motivations of those who ask probing questions of the alternative health industry, including the highly respected Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh, Edzard Ernst and many others. The ANH also represent the supplements industry and are implacably opposed to the European Food Supplements Directive, an attempt to “harmonise the legislation and to ensure that these products are safe and appropriately labelled so that consumers can make informed choices”.
The National Health Foundation
The NHF are an American organisation that claim to be a consumer education and health freedom organisation with the aim of removing government restrictions on food, supplements and alternative therapies. However this organisation is committed to more than the unfettered influence of market forces and an uncontrolled alternative health care sector, it actively promotes misleading and plain wrong ideas that potentially have dangerous and lethal consequences.
The NHF are opposed to vaccination and fluoridation amongst other health concepts and promote conspiracy theories, cancer cure quackery, homeopathic autism cures, AIDS denialism and many other egregious and dangerous lies through their suggested reading lists.
La Leva di Archimede
The English section of the La Leva di Archimede website is a collection of conspiracy theories and lies about science from various alternative health sources the world over with the familiar implacable opposition to evidence based healthcare that the previous sites show.
Zeus Information Service
Zeus is mainly a collection of links and articles that present the familiar distortions of science, character assassinations and support for discredited quacks, like Rath and Wakefield. Zeus also send out a weekly email alerting the alternative health industry and supporters to criticism or support in the press or in blogs (I have had the occasional honour of a mention for this blog).
Dr Rath Health Foundation
The Dr Rath Health Foundation are a despicable and utterly irrational organisation that responded to Matthias Rath’s dropping of his libel case against The Guardian and Ben Goldacre with an unrepentent restating of his view that AIDS does not need to be treated with ARVs and accusations that drugs companies are complicit in genocide. They believe that there is a conspiracy between oil and drug companies to control the IMF and restrict the actions of Barack Obama and previously claimed that George Bush and Dick Cheney would start WWIII by the 4th November to maintain the hegemony of the oil and drug cartel. So far so delusionary but these delusions are not restricted to fantasies of armageddon and one world governments that would put an evangelical Christian to shame, they include the belief that vitamins and other quackery can cure AIDS. A belief that some estimates suggest is responsible for over 300,000 deaths in South Africa alone. A belief that Matthias Rath is evangelical about spreading to other parts of the world, his current focus seems to be Russia.
eu-referendum.org
These organisations have united under the banner of the European Referendum Initiative, an organisation that ostensibly campaigns against the Lisbon Treaty but a deeper analysis of their website reveals them to be little more than a lobbying group for the alternative health care industry, albeit one that misleads and lies and equates the horrors of the Holocaust with modern science and medicine. Their aim is to prevent regulation of alternative medicine and campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty is just part of that aim.
The EU Parliament and the MEP, Kathy Sinnott
It would be hoped that this organisation consisting of deceitful lobby groups, anti-science fantasists and murderous AIDS denialists would be shunned the European Parliament and the elected representatives therein. Sadly this is not the case, Kathy Sinnott, MEP for Ireland South and member of the UKIP associated Independence/Democracy Group, has backed the European Referendum Initiative and leant her good name to this Matthias Rath backed organisation. The support of an MEP is just what with this organisation wants, with it comes access to the halls of power, a name to drop to increase support and the cloak of political respectability.
I have been in contact with Ms Sinnott and put a number of questions to her concerning her involvement with Matthias Rath and the above organisation. Ms Sinnott states that she had never heard of Matthias Rath, did not know of the link between the European Referendum Initiative and does not back him. The European Referendum Initiative website clearly states that it is run by the Dr. Rath Foundation both on their homepage and about section and Ms Sinnott has refused to make a comment on or withdraw her support from the European Referendum Initiative.
Regardless of this Ms Sinnott did inform me that her involvement came about through the Irish Association of Health Stores (IAHS) who put her in touch with their scientific advisors(!), the ANH. It seems the IAHS, like the other lobby groups and industry representatives above, are opposed to the regulation of supplements and alternative therapies.
It is clear from reading some of the questions asked in parliament by Ms Sinnott that she is supportive of many of the views of the Dr Rath Foundation, the IAHS & ANH and their allies. She is persistently asking questions on the safety of fluoridation, the non-existent link between mercury and autism, scaremongering over dental amalgam, wifi in schools, and this is just in the last year. She also has a track record of trying to allow the alternative health industry to profit from health tourism as well as asking for reduced/no VAT on alternative therapies. It is also interesting to note she has condemned drug companies for carrying out unethical trials in developing nations, a lethal practice of Matthias Rath’s she has not commented on.
Ms Sinnott is naive, scientifically illiterate and an elected official who puts her support for favoured industries before evidence and the rights and health of consumers by arguing for increased market share, reduced taxes and little regulation of the alternative health sector.
A lobby of lies
It is saddening to see lobbying groups, political parties and MEPs actively promote utterly discredited, but culturally persistent, half-truths and lies about medicine, healthcare and herbal supplements. There seems to be a fundamental disrespect for the role of the scientific method in healthcare or perhaps a gross ignorance of science within much of political and lawmaking institutions. It is not surprising that elected officials operating within this environment are prepared to consort with highly dubious groups and individuals who flatter their prejudices and confirm their mistaken and ignorant beliefs. Kathy Sinnott’s inability to appreciate scientific evidence has led her to put her good name to the odious Dr. Rath Foundation and allowed the offensive grouping behind the European Referendum Initiative access to the halls of power.
The alternative health sector has proven time and time again to be incapable of self-regulation, this is why it is of considerable concern that they are lobbying the EU parliament against legislative regulation of their products. If they succeed will will reach a situation where the deaths and injury from alternative healing fantasies will not just be the responsibility of the practitioner concerned, they will be the responsibility of all those who lobbied against regulation, including elected officials like Kathy Sinnott.
[BPSDB]
Dr* T said
This group is a horrible assortment of quacks, politicians, money-makers and shills, and should have no place in an evidence-based health policy discussion.
Given the information above, one thing which I would respectfully say is missing from the end of your post, is that it feels there should be a few pointers as to what your blog readers could do to help stymie these corrupt plans.
gimpy said
Raising public awareness is the only thing I can think of right now Dr *T. I made Kathy Sinnott fully aware of my concerns and gave her every opportunity to answer my questions before publishing this post. I have no expectation that she will reconsider her views and actions.
We are up against a powerful lobby that has captured the ear of elected officials, Ms Sinnott is not the only one. I will consider a letter to my MEP and would urge others to do likewise but other suggestions would be welcome.
Neuroskeptic said
Is she a member of a political party? You could write to them and ask them if they support what she’s doing. It could be very embarrasing if they were to be linked to this.
Hmm… she doesn’t seem to be linked to any British political party, she’s one of the two leaders of the Independence & Democracy Group in the European Parliament: here, a group which includes UKIP. Might be worth a shot?
Teek said
Apart from starting a counter-lobby (where would we get the sums of money Big Quacka must have?), there is little alternative but to press individual representatives one by one to ensure they are aware of just who they’re being lobbied by. although this is unlikely to get them to change their stance, with sufficient publicity about M(E)Ps falling under the spell of such nonsense-mongers more and more elected officials will be wary of whom they support.
pj said
As well as being a rightwing nutter Sinnott is a full on woo – see the Hope Project:
“Our children developed an Autistic Spectrum Disorder because of an attack to their immune system. Autistic Spectrum Disorders are preventable, treatable and even curable.
…
The relevant Department should create a Vaccination Damage Fund as Germany has done. Vaccine producers who admit that their products do cause damage to some people are required in these countries to pay substantial monies to funds which are then available to victims of their products. The American government similarly requires payments from tobacco companies.”
Sadly Sinnott is an independent MEP and her rightwing views and apparent disability rights advocacy (her son has autism) make her a favourite with the Irish people.
Tom in Cork, Ireland said
Ah, Ms. Kathy Sinnott is famous in Ireland as a left wing-nut on science….in Trinity College, Dublin she was torn to shreds for her views on stem cell research. see http://tinyurl.com/6njxt6
Since that she was discovered by a German TV crew to be signing up for EU payments she was not entitled to…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMtc_QJ4-E&eurl=http://ocaoimh.ie/2008/06/30/the-eu-gravy-train/
She has also claimed to have asked for a European Parliament investigation into a local university graduate (who had worked in Canada before) over his anti-woo activities and challenges to her and her ilk on GM food… http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI38.pdf
pj said
Left wing?!
gimpy said
Tom in Cork? I must echo Pj here, to my reading she is a right-wing Catholic in the Anne Widdecombe mold.
But thanks for the links Tom & Pj, I didn’t want this post to be an attack on Ms Sinnott but it is clear that she is especially susceptible to the lobbying of quacks and the consequences of using her power as an MEP to promote others who share her beliefs needs to be pointed out.
jonhw said
Re the Hope Project, is the Kathryn Sinnott who’s its secretary the same Kathy Sinnott who’s an MEP?
pj said
Yep, hence my linking to it.
pj said
Yep, hence my linking to it.
tom p said
geat post gimpy.
There’s one minor error in it thought – something is missing between “the ” and “,”
“Kathy Sinnott, MEP for Ireland South and member of the , has “
gimpy said
Cheers Tom P have corrected it with a reference to the UKIP associated Independence/Democracy Group.
Vicky said
This is a very worrying development. I wrote a post back in September about several websites written by the Dr Rath Foundation, although I was focussing on his support / possible manipulation of a group of Auschwitz survivors. One of the sites is an “online academy”, the purpose of which is to enlighten people to the fact that the Holocaust was planned and carried out by IG Farben, just as modern big pharma are planning to cause WWIII by November 2007. the whole web of sites certainly made me look at the organisation in a different light. My findings, concerns etc are all here, if anyone’s interested:
http://violetta-crisis.livejournal.com/2008/09/14/
I assumed the EU referendum site was just a dummy to make some of the other claims seem more official. Perhaps making people aware of the link between this “referendum” movement and their quite shocking reanalysis of the Holocaust might be a good way to discredit the campaign.
Vicky said
I’ve just had a quick look through the German party AGFG’s website and the few campaigns it seems to match very closely – including similar links and photos – with the Dr. Rath Foundation’s site(s). According to the Wikipedia entry, unfortunately only in German, Matthias Rath is a very prominent member of the party and his “health philosophy” forms the core of its manifesto. Later it claims that the party’s first chairman, Lutz Kliche, was at the same time the marketing manager of a company that organised corporate events for Rath and provided brochures about his theories.
This may not be the most reliable information but either way, they’re a very minor party (even in a system full of minor parties) and I can’t imagine they’ll have much impact over here. They certainly didn’t achieve much publicity during this year’s election in Hamburg.
gimpy said
Vicky, thanks for the link, unfortunately the kind of people who will support the machinations of Matthias Rath tend to be just as delusional, ignorant and conspiracy obsessed as he is. That some of them are elected officials is democracy’s bitter joke.
Having said that I do find it extraordinary that supporters of alternative medicine can experiment with unproven treatments that put lives at risk, undermine science, support historical revisionism and still manage to present their business as somehow being better than the actions of pharmaceutical companies.
Petty. Me. Uk. » Recent Links, 20081113 said
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David Quinn said
From what I have read of Kathy Sinnott she is a reasonable and rational representative voice for those people who are sceptical of many the claims made by the pharmaceutical industry for their products. The vaccine-autism link has by now been well established and can no longer be easily dismissed.
GOVERNMENT CONCEDES VACCINE-AUTISM CASE IN FEDERAL COURT http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html
HCN said
David Quinn, mitochondrial encephalopathy is not really autism, and the outcome would have been the same if the child had suffered from an actual disease:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/176/
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=341
Sharon said
I’ve finally had time to read this post properly, and what a good one it is too. Great work Gimpy.
I’ve come across some of Sinnott’s anti-progress views before, as well as her distortion of the facts about autism, but never realised she’s involved in outright anti-vaccine blaming, nor that she would stoop so low as to associate herself with Rath and the other ridiculous organisations named in that ERI press release.
Thanks also to PJ for the link to the Hope project. I never knew there was something like that on these shore. It’s awful, the site is full of lies and mistakes and the links page shows exactly what low standards of science and ethics Hope engages in.
@ David Quinn, the vaccine autism link has never been established. You’ll have to do a lot better than posting a link to the Huffington Post to prove that one, and would learn a lot from reading the recently published book “Autism’s False Prophets” by Paul Offit, which dismantles comprehensively the autism/vaccines link.
I’ve never heard Sinnott described as “rational” before either! She may be a voice for people whose beliefs are refuted by evidence, but that doesn’t make her right.
gimpy said
David Quinn, are you the same David Quinn of the Iona Institute? Do you have any links with Ms Sinnott that might be appropriate to declare?
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